“Then shall your Light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your Righteousness shall go before you; the Glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard” (Isaiah 58:8).
Welcome back dear student, last week we spoke about the Glory of God which is God’s Manifest Presence. The Godhead consists of the Father, His Son, and His Holy Spirit – three individual Persons, yet they are One. The Father is our Creator; the Lord Jesus is the Word of God made flesh – our Saviour; and the Spirit is the Presence of God given as a gift to live inside of every believer. Messiah Jesus gave His Life so that we could be forgiven and saved - washed in His Blood and made whole. Holy Spirit reconnects us to the Father and guides us onto the right path. He is God’s Wisdom to us when we need direction. He is our Comforter when we are worried or in pain, He is our Helper when we are in trouble. He is our Advocate or Attorney when we need deliverance. He teaches us and disciplines us from the Word of God, for He is the Revealer (John 16:5-14). He is the Greatest Friend you will ever have. He never leaves us or forsakes us, so that God is constantly with us in every situation. He shares our joy and our sorrows. He sees it all and knows it all. He bestows the indescribable Love of God upon us and through us. The Lord Jesus said, ‘out of your belly shall flow rivers of Living Water’ (John 7:38). That’s the Holy Spirit – He is the Life-Giving River of God’s beautiful Presence.
Jesus promised that He would not leave us orphaned (John 14:15-27). This is what He meant – that God Himself would come to live inside of each one of us in the Person of His Spirit so we would never be alone or isolated. People often experience loneliness in this world. But those who know God’s Holy Spirit never feel alone. Sure, there may be difficult circumstances - we live in a fallen world filled with brokenness, but there’s a confidence that brings unshakeable trust, hope, and joy from the Presence of God’s Spirit. These things are hard for the intellect to fathom. “The things of God are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Word describes it as ‘foolishness to the flesh’ - meaning faith operates outside of our reasoning (1 Corinthians 1:18). That’s what faith is: believing and trusting in One greater than ourselves. And the Bible tells us that the Greater One lives inside of us, and He overpowers the spirit of the world (1 John 4:4).
Satan and his demons are fallen angels. They have no bodies and so they’re looking for dwelling places to inhabit. When people do awful and demented things, most folks wonder ‘why would someone do something like that?’ It is because of demon spirits oppressing that one’s life and character. These have been given legal access through sin, sexual immorality, disobedience, bitterness, or unresolved anger, engaging in evil deeds, watching, or dabbling with the occult: witchcraft, satanic music or rituals, involvement in false god idolatry, or new age mysticism. All these are corrupt influences of Satan using the flesh to entrap people. The more one engages, the more demonic the impact. Oh, to be led by the Spirit of God! (Romans 8:5-17). The miracle of Salvation comes by calling upon the Lord Jesus, repenting for sin and turning from living to please the flesh (Romans 10:9-13; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21) . Now washed in the Blood of Jesus, the believer is reconciled back to God: a new creation in Christ, filled with His Spirit, protected, empowered, and transformed – healed and set free. Hallelujah!